‘We Can Be Heroes’ review: Robert Rodriguez raids his earlier movies as the kids of superheroes try saving the world

Last updated Jan 10, 2021

Although best understood for edgier fare, Rodriguez explored his lighter side with “Spy Kids” in 2001 and “Sharkboy and Lavagirl” 4 years later on. This brand-new motion picture ties straight into the latter, including the kids of those heroes along with others — with names like Wonder Person — united to conserve the world after their moms and dads get rapidly overwhelmed and caught by alien intruders.

It’s a familiar principle, one that birthed the likewise themed “Sky High” the very same year as “Sharkboy,” and offered the standard design template for Disney+’s “The Secret Society of Second-Born Royals” previously this year. The dream of kids ending up being superheroes stays a long lasting one, which describes why attires like Disney keep going back to it.

The moms and dads, especially, include some identifiable faces regardless of the undersized nature of their functions (the important things we provide for our kids), consisting of Pedro Pascal (pulling double Christmas task in “Wonder Woman 1984”), Christian Slater, Boyd Holbrook and the initial Lavagirl, Taylor Dooley. Priyanka Chopra Jonas likewise drops in as the overseer of The Heroics, generally this universe’s variation of the Justice League.

Still, the focus is directly on the kids, a decently enticing group led by outsider Missy (YaYa Gosselin), whose primary ability depends on coaxing her peers about the requirement to run as a group. That’s just one of the integrated lessons, in a “The children are our future” sort of method.

Unlike the previously mentioned films that include high-school-age kids, the kids are more youthful here, and the motion picture has a perceptiveness showing that even compared to, state, Disney Channel-type fare.

This was plainly produced kids, not critics, and the style and action are lively adequate to divert them. Rodriguez — who likewise produced, modified and shot the movie, working with his own kids in what’s plainly a household affair — is skilled in superhero tropes for moms and dads who can value comic-book satire.

Include it up and “We Can Be Heroes” functions as a really small addition to Netflix’s kids-and-family tier, for moms and dads trying to find something brand-new to keep their tykes inhabited. As an aside, the motion picture highlights the existing state of streaming, where no title with a shred of equity in it — even one as odd as “Sharkboy and Lavagirl” — is ever formally out of the going to pick up.

“We Can Be Heroes” premieres Dec. 25 on Netflix.

Jobber Wiki author Frank Long contributed to this report.

'We Can Be Heroes' review: Robert Rodriguez raids his earlier movies as the kids of superheroes try saving the world - CNN entertainment